J.L Niu, H.G Zuo, J. Burnett
Year:
2001
Bibliographic info:
Building Simulation, 7, 2001, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, p. 265-272

In   this   paper,   we   present   a   new  method   of combining ASHRAE Room Energy Balance Method with 3-d airflow modeling to estimate the thermal comfort conditions of the emerging air- conditioning system that combines radiant cooling and desiccant dehumidification. The room cooling load at a desired operative temperature is calculated, and so are the room surface temperatures and convective and radiative heat  fluxes,  which are used as input for the simulation of 3-d room airflow and radiant temperature distributions, which are subsequently combined to calculate the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). The simulation results indicate that raising air supply temperature can provide better thermal comfort in terms of thermal field uniformity, and that thermal comfort indices directly linked with local body-surface heat transfers   may   be   more   useful   in   estimating uniformity associated with elevated air velocities.